Flat panel light sources for a transillumination device of a microscope are known from the existing art, for example from DE 10 2004 017 694 B3 or U.S. Pat. No. 7,554,727 B2. They are arranged below the specimen plane. The distance between the flat panel light source and specimen is selected to be large enough that the specimen is completely illuminated, and the structure of the light-emitting means is no longer visible in the specimen plane. In the existing art, however, the overall height of the transillumination base is too high. Ergonomic considerations are not taken into account. In order to allow implementation of a flat transillumination device for microscopes, for example stereomicroscopes and macroscopes, a desire exists to configure the core element—the light source—to be as flat as possible but to radiate light homogeneously. DE 10 2004 017 694 B3, for example, teaches the use of a diffusion disk over the light source for homogenization, although this has a negative effect on overall height and on the efficiency of the light-emitting means. It is therefore desirable to describe a maximally flat but nevertheless homogeneous transillumination device for a microscope.